THE LIFE OF CHUCK IS SIMULTANEOUSLY EFFECTIVE—it jerks those tears—and almost terrifyingly ineffective, a movie that feints at a sort of transcendent human depth but has a nullity at its center that undercuts the entire premise upon closer examination.

The cosmic calendar and Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” work in unlikely tandem in “The Life of Chuck,” filmmaker Mike Flanagan ’s latest venture into Stephen King’s multitude-packed mind.

Tom Hiddleston leads an all-start cast in this Mike Flanagan adaptation of a novella by Stephen King, opening wide June 13.